I just got some stressful news about my recent house purchase and got in to an argument with my partner (it was about a monumentally stupid mistake her brother made trying to transfer funds in to my account which meant that I couldn’t complete the house purchase) I got in to a sort of panic attack, i got dizzy and my hand went numb. It was like when I had my recent symptom attack, I couldn’t even walk properly and all my symtons came flooding back. Thankfully they went away after a long lie down and I had calmed down a little, although my dizziness remained What I want to ask is… Was this just a plain old panic attack? (I’ve never had one before though) Or does having MS leave me open to these kind of attacks when I go through a stressful thing like wanting to murder my in-laws? Is there anything I can do (apart from mass in-law murder) to help me from going through this again? Andy
Hi there,
Sorry you’re having a stressful time. Stress is definitely bad for MS, so you need to focus on avoiding it where you can, and/or developing better coping strategies for those times you simply can’t avoid it.
There’s no medical proof whether stress can bring on a genuine relapse - many people claim it can. Although personally, I’ve been through some very stressful times, including a bereavement, without having a relapse at all, but had one when all was fine, and nothing very stressful going on.
However, it sounds like what you’ve had - almost instant worsening of symptoms in response to a stressful situation - is not an actual relapse, but something many MSers notice. I have got like it even from such (relatively) minor stresses as someone trying to talk me into going round for dinner, when I didn’t want to! Very kind and all that, but this person just wouldn’t take no for an answer.
It’s probably not realistic that you can avoid stress altogether. But you need to learn to recognize it as a symptom trigger. It might help to know it’s a common phenomenon, so you don’t get MORE stressed by the reappearance of symptoms, and can just accept it as your body’s way of telling you to calm down.
Stress isn’t really very good for anyone, but MS can be a bit more bolshy about letting you know.
Tina
Thanks Tina, Just knowing that others can get a blast of symptoms from stressful things helps. I really appreciate you answering! I guess it’s like a “check engine” light, I just need to pull over for a bit and calm down. It was quite scary though! Never been through that before and I hope not to again…
Hi Andy
I was told by my neuro. stress is not good for MS. I have noticed over the years that my symptoms flair up with stressfull situations, so try and avoid if at at all possible. Regards Heather
[quote=“Heather1987”]
Hi Andy
I was told by my neuro. stress is not good for MS. I have noticed over the years that my symptoms flair up with stressfull situations, so try and avoid if at at all possible. Regards Heather
[/quote] Now if that isn’t an excuse to have a holiday during stressful times I don’t know what is! 
If not holiday then i also don’t know what is this about?